The Legend of Saint Peter [Paperback]

Arthur Drews; Frank R. Zindler (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 1997

THE LEGEND OF SAINT PETER contains a foreword by the translator, Frank R. Zindler; a foreword by the author, Arthur Drews; and 5 chapters: Peter in the New Testament, The mythical background of the Peter figure, Peter and Mithra, Peter in Rome, and Peter, Prince of Apostles.

"The Peter of the Acts and of the later literature is a legendary person; of this there can be no doubt. His portrait is so shot-through with mythical features that it is quite impossible now to isolate any 'historical kernel' from the surviving reports."

An appendix by Frank R. Zindler contains English translations of all biblical passages cited, as well as English versions of all citations from church fathers and classical Greco-Roman authors.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: German

From the Publisher

This work of Drews has been unjustifiably forgotten by mainline biblical scholars and freethinking critics alike. Drews' vast knowledge of classical, biblical, and patristic literatures are brought to focus on the question of the historicity of Saint Peter. His analysis demonstrates in a most convincing manner that like his supposed master Jesus, Simon Peter is a fiction created by the proto-Christian church. The evolution of Simon Peter from his predecessors Janus and Mithra (both of whom carried the keys to the gates of heaven) and the Tyrian Hercules (Melkart) is carefully detailed in this curious work of German Enlightenment scholarship.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 182 pages
• Publisher: American Atheist Press (December 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1578849519
• ISBN-13: 978-1578849512
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,856,880 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Greatness!, July 15, 2009

By 

Elvin Marks (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Legend of Saint Peter (Paperback)

If you're into the deep metaphysical studies of astrotheology, then that small manuscript is for you. It is a forgotten classic due to the politics of our age. But now here is your chance to get it and dissect it before the totalitarian thought police start to enfore their laws on our MINDS. Peep the game!

9 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Towards mythic-only Peter, Jesus, Paul, apostles, etc., September 1, 2003

By 

Michael Hoffman (Egodeath.com) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Legend of Saint Peter (Paperback)

Arthur Drews is an important early 20th-Century author whose works should all be available in English. Even in Germany you have to look for Drews' books in antiquarian libraries.

There was a pope Peter on the very Vatican a long time before Catholic papacy became into being. From another reader's translation of this book into English: "No doubt: the Christian Peter is nothing but a reduplicated and humanized Persian Petros or Mithra, who got that way into the Gospels. The papal Church is nothing but the immediate continuation or the Christian substitute of the old Petros cult. The Archigallus, the highest priest or pagan Pope of the Mithras-Attis cult corresponds to the highest or archpriest of the entire Catholic Christendom. He had his residence on the Vatican, worshipped the Sun as Saviour and in the Kybele the 'virgin'-Godmother, who would be represented sitting with a baby boy on her lap having the Virgin Mary as her Christian counterpart."

Drews provides a substantial scholarly basis for understanding that the Bible is essentially all mythic or, as I'd emphasize more, mystic allegory. A must-have for all mythic-only Jesus scholars, because eliminating the hypothesis of a single historical person underlying the Jesus figure goes hand-in-hand with doing the same for the rest of his crowd: Paul, Peter, John, James, Mary, and all the apostles.